Supporting everyone to travel in Brighton & Hove

Councillors have agreed a series of measures designed to support the safe travel of all residents in Brighton & Hove.

At a meeting of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability (ETS) committee on Tuesday 29 September, members voted for a number of recommendations to support active travel during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, influenced by feedback from residents, stakeholders and community groups.

Councillors agreed that:

• Madeira Drive is reopened to one-way traffic, with a two-way protected cycle lane, more space for pedestrians and an increase in parking bays for blue badge holders
• amendments be made to the Old Shoreham Road cycle lane, including the right hand turn into Olive Road and the Carlton Terrace junction
• all temporary measures remain in place and continue to be monitored
• residents and stakeholder groups are part of meaningful consultation on future schemes

Chair of the ETS committee, Councillor Amy Heley, said: “We are committed to inclusive and accessible travel for everyone.

“We are listening to what people have been telling us and the feedback we receive from residents, stakeholders, community groups and businesses will continue to be extremely important in influencing our decision making. 

"Urgent changes to our transport network are having to be made during an unprecedented period in response to the challenges of Covid-19, but we will be doing everything we can to make sure everyone can travel accessibly and safely around our city.

“Covid-19 hasn’t gone away – we’re seeing a rise in cases nationally and we’re being told current restrictions are likely to be in place for at least six months. With reduced capacity on public transport, the need for us to support active travel remains as important as ever.

“More of us walking and cycling around the city is good for our physical and mental health and reducing carbon emissions, but it also frees up space on our roads for those who still need to use a car, parking for people with disabilities and room for businesses to move goods and services.“

More information

• Read more information about the government instruction to Local Authorities to quickly put in place temporary walking and cycling measures, and associated funding, 
• Brighton & Hove City Council received £663,000 through Tranche 1 of the Emergency Active Travel Funding. This was over 10% more than the expected funding allocation, as our bid scored very well against the fund criteria.  The Council has also bid for £2.68m for Tranche 2 of the funding. Brighton & Hove received a higher indicative allocation than other similar authorities due to its high level of bus use, as the fund is intended to provide walking and cycling changes to help address reductions in bus capacity due to social distancing requirements. Read more in our bid documents. 
• The public can have their say on temporary measures via our public feedback survey and by commenting on the Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders.
• The council has published a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the temporary measures.